B Line
by xenalvr
Summary: A one-shot Kalinda/Alicia fic


**Warnings and Disclaimers**: Set somewhere in the early second season of The Good Wife, this one-shot contains adult themes and language so please do NOT proceed if you are not of age or if any of that might offend you. It is inspired by Lamb's sexy track of the same title. Rated **PG-13**.

The characters from The Good Wife belong to CBS. I'm just taking them out for a spin and shall return them (very reluctantly) after I'm done. No infringement is intended.

**B Line**

The varnished wooden surface of the bar counter, the clinking of glasses, and the jumbled threads of conversation floating around her head were nothing out of the ordinary. But something _was_ and, for the life of her, Alicia Florrick couldn't quite put a finger on it. She knew herself well enough to know that it would continue to bug her until she got it so she wedged her lower lip between her teeth as she glanced around the bar, readying herself for anything that might jump out at her.

She caught sight of her co-worker-_friend?_-Kalinda Sharma meandering around the bar patrons and furniture, and her lips curled up in a faint smile of greeting when their eyes met. Her eyes continued their trek around the venue, seeking but not finding anything of interest. She curbed the faint but annoying sense of unrest and shifted slightly to face Kalinda. She watched as Kalinda ordered herself a drink and, after a moment's hesitation and a quick darting of eyes at her, motioned for the bartender to bring her another glass of wine.

Alicia had never quite been able to work Kalinda out. From the very moment that they'd met, Kalinda had been no-nonsense and all business. Even though Alicia couldn't see Kalinda giving anyone any sort of preferential treatment, she secretly felt that Kalinda had favoured her over Cary way back when they were competing to stay with Lockhart/Gardner. While it was hardly the reason why, it certainly contributed towards Alicia's willingness to discuss her personal life with Kalinda the way she never did with anyone else at the firm.

Following that train of thought, Alicia said out loud, "Apparently, people think I'm snobby." She turned to Kalinda and found herself admiring the woman's exotic features, tanned, smooth skin, and dark, almost black hair. She was aware that Kalinda used her attributes to the fullest in her line of work. Sometimes she wondered just how far she would go, or had gone, to procure what was needed to tip things in their favour. At Kalinda's bemused smirk, Alicia brushed the thought aside and rolled her eyes. "I'm not snobby. I'm just... focussed," she said, shaking her head a little.

"What do you care what people think of you?"

Kalinda's voice was velvety smooth and her words seemed to roll off her tongue effortlessly. Alicia met Kalinda's raised-brow look and nodded curtly. "I don't," she agreed. It was just small talk; she wanted to share her day and didn't want to talk about the case they had just wrapped up.

"Wanna know what _my_ evaluation said?" Kalinda asked after throwing back her drink and motioning the bartender for a refill.

She surprised Alicia, who furrowed her brows even as she smiled curiously at Kalinda. "_You_ got an evaluation too?" she asked, even though she was sure Kalinda was well aware that the real question was: _"You want to share non work-related information with me?"_

"_Yes_," Kalinda said, drawing out the word. Her answer sounded coy and bemused, and the slant of her eyes and lips emphasized that. It made Alicia's lips quirk and lashes flutter as she ducked her head and averted her gaze. For a second, Alicia thought this must be how someone on the receiving end of Kalinda's attention felt.

"I'm aloof, unfriendly, abrupt," Kalinda said, breaking Alicia's reverie. Then Kalinda snorted softly. "Someone even called me a tease."

Alicia's eyes widened as she turned to Kalinda. "A tease?" she asked, incredulous. "How... who?"

Kalinda shrugged. "Who cares," she murmured before throwing back another drink.

"Well that's really unprofessional," Alicia said stiffly, frowning at the person who had called Kalinda that while wondering what had provoked them to do so. She lifted her wine glass to her lips and took a sip from it, wincing a little at the tartness of the wine. She swirled the dark liquid briefly.

Kalinda looked over at Alicia, smiling that bemused smile again. "Calling me a tease or being called a tease?" she asked.

This time, Alicia directed her frown at Kalinda and shook her head when Kalinda chuckled throatily. She could feel the camaraderie between them and it warmed her. "Tell me about your last relationship," she asked suddenly, without thought. The air chilled perceptibly between them. Alicia glanced at Kalinda sharply and wondered what had happened to make this woman the way she was. Not wanting to lose the warmth and ease between them, she hurriedly added, "Only if you want."

Alicia became aware of the cresendo of noise around them when the conversation died between Kalinda and herself. She cursed herself inwardly and forced some wine down her throat. It didn't taste as tart now.

"It was short-lived."

Alicia almost choked when she realised that Kalinda had not only spoken-she had answered her question. She steadied her breathing and lowered her wine glass slowly, almost as though she was afraid of scaring Kalinda back into silence.

"I couldn't give them what they wanted."

When Kalinda didn't say anything more after that, Alicia chewed on her lip as her mind raced. "What was their name?" she asked innocently, refusing to meet Kalinda's eyes even though she could feel them on her, assessing. She was well aware that Kalinda had used a gender neutral pronoun, that it most probably meant that Kalinda had been in a relationship with a woman. She didn't know why it was of any importance that Kalinda spelt it out. Perhaps it would prove that Kalinda trusted her on some level. Whatever it was, Alicia held her breath as she waited for Kalinda's response... or the lack thereof.

"Donna."

Alicia nodded. "Needy chick, huh?" she said with mock sympathy as she turned towards Kalinda.

Kalinda's expression was unreadable. Then she barked out a short laugh, shook her head at the empty glass in her grasp, then lifted it to hail the bartender.

Alicia swapped her tart red wine for the Black Russian that Kalinda was having.

That Kalinda had answered her question truthfully removed some sort of barrier between them. Alicia knew she was nowhere close to knowing the real Kalinda but the tiny step had felt like such a victory. It made her feel quite heady. Somewhere in the course of the evening, she began touching Kalinda as they laughed and chatted-an odd resting of hand on Kalinda's forearm, a friendly slap on Kalinda's upper arm. She hadn't meant anything by it; she wasn't even fully aware that she was doing it. Then when she paused to catch her breath after laughing at something ridiculous that Kalinda had said in a straight face, their eyes met and she wondered at how the twinkle in those hooded dark eyes could entice her so.

Alicia wasn't familiar with attraction. She tended to tumble into commitment, comfortable with the stability and affection that it provided. Even what she felt for Will couldn't be considered attraction, per se. She had known of his feelings for her since college days; falling back into it when her relationship with Peter seemed so uncertain gave her the stability that she needed at the time. And now... now that he had moved on with Tammy and what she felt for Peter was almost akin to a comfortable friendship, Alicia found herself floundering at the sudden onslaught of an unexpected wave... of desire.

It confused her.

"Alicia, are you all right?"

Alicia stared at the tanned fingers curved around her forearm and blinked several times before she pasted a smile on her face. "Yes." Then, "I think I need some water." She watched as Kalinda turned immediately to wave the bartender over. Then she lowered her gaze at the hand that still rested on her forearm, wondering why it was making her swallow and chest buzz. It lifted when her water arrived and Alicia inhaled sharply as she stared at the patch of skin where Kalinda's fingers had been.

"Here."

Alicia sipped at the cold water gratefully.

"Do you want to go? We should go."

Alicia choked on the water and had to cover her mouth with one hand as Kalinda slid her hand up and down her back in concern. "Sorry, I..." she started to say when she got her breath back. Kalinda's smirk made her lips quirk and she swallowed the rest of the sentence. Was Kalinda attracted to her? Was Kalinda looking at her the same way she was looking at Kalinda? How _was_ she looking at Kalinda? Was it normal for a woman to notice another woman's lashes, the curve of her lips, the slant of her eyes, the timbre of her voice? "Can I kiss you?"

The rounding of Kalinda's eyes made Alicia realise that she had spoken her thought out loud. It made her blush crimson and she didn't know where to put her eyes.

"I'm sorry, I think didn't hear you right," Kalinda said.

She was sure Kalinda had heard her but was trying to give her a way out. "I said..." Alicia said, flicking her eyes up Kalinda's face, wondering if Kalinda found her attractive at all. Kalinda must have people propositioning her all the time; Alicia wondered if Kalinda was inwardly scoffing at Alicia's _audacity_...

"I thought I heard you ask if you can kiss me."

Kalinda's words stopped Alicia's rambling thoughts. She took a breath and nodded. "You heard right." Her heart was racing at the foreignness of it all. She swallowed, nervous.

"Why would you... ask me that?" Kalinda asked softly, her gaze inquiring, as though trying to ascertain if it was just a drunken request.

Put on a spot, Alicia had no words. She started to shake her head, to shrug it off with a laugh. "I don't..." Then she met Kalinda's gaze and leaned forward slightly until their breaths mingled. Her lips parted again but no words came forth. "Can I?" she asked at last, sounding breathless to herself. She would move away if Kalinda shook her head no. She would laugh awkwardly and roll her eyes, explaining that she had a little too much to drink. She would...

"Okay."

The word of consent froze her. She licked her lips and realised that Kalinda had not and probably wasn't going to move. She realised that if she wanted to claim the kiss, she would have to be the one to close the distance between them.

Kalinda's expression was inscrutable. Alicia licked her lips unconsciously, feeling heady at given the permission to claim those lips with her own. The desire to do so continued to befuddle her but she wasn't in the capacity to analyse too much. She dipped her head and made a beeline for Kalinda's lips, her eyes falling shut as she did so.

Kalinda's lips were soft. Alicia breathed in slowly and pulled away slightly. But before she fully lost contact with Kalinda's lips, she pressed in again, this time with slightly parted lips. She let loose a soft moan when she felt Kalinda respond by parting her lips and touching her tongue to hers. She fell into a dark swirl of nervous excitement, heady pleasure, and a climbing attraction towards a kiss that did not just plunder and take even though her mouth was full of Kalinda's tongue and her own, tangling and tasting.

They pushed back and forth; everytime the kiss felt like it was about to taper off, one of them would deepen it again. It sent little thrills of desire up and down her side; she smiled faintly as they kissed, and her smiled deepened when she felt Kalinda's lips curve up in response. When they finally pulled apart, Alicia felt as though she had sprinted around the bar. She felt flushed as she gently tongued her kiss-bruised lips.

"Okay then," Alicia murmured after she cleared her throat. Then Kalinda-her friend, _maybe more?_-chuckled softly and Alicia joined her.

**The End**


End file.
